By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka government is working all out to enter the Japanese job market in a big way, seizing the opportunity offered by the ‘land of the rising sun’ by loosening entry requirements, such as the minimum level of Japanese language required.
The Ministry Foreign Employment has doubled the efforts of the Foreign Employment Bureau on seeking foreign employment for Sri Lankans by entering into agreements with that country’s job agencies at present.
Minister Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara who is now in Japan on an official vist, met Morihiro Tada, CEO of PERSOL Global Workforce and discussed ways and means of obtaining more employment opportunities to Sri Lankan workers.
Mr. Morihiro Tada pointed out the importance of having language training for a job in Japan.The minister explaining the measures taken to teach the Japanese language stated that a cabinet paper has been presented to include the Japanese language as a subject in the school curriculum.
A plan is under way in Japan to recruit 345,000 workers for the next five years under a special skills employment programme, and Japan has signed agreements with seven countries including Sri Lanka for this purpose,
Japan’s GTN – Global Trust Network has assured the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara recently that it will facilitate measures to provide more than 1000 Caregiver jobs in Japan for Sri Lankan migrant workers.
The ministry has signed an agreement with the Japan International Trainee and Skilled Worker Cooperation Organization (JITCO) to promote the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) and the Specified Skilled Worker Program (SSW) in Sri Lanka and among receiving organisations in Japan.
As a result, JITCO will seek to promote the TITP and SSW programmes as well as the organisations that offer possibilities for Sri Lankan trainees. This will make it possible for more young people from Sri Lanka to apply for jobs in Japan as skilled workers and technical trainees.
In the past few years, Sri Lanka and Japan signed two MoUs on both low-skilled and specified-skilled worker recruitment to Japan.
.Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers has given green light to a proposal to train prospective foreign employees in Japanese and English language skills and other soft skills targeting job opportunities in Japan.
Sri Lankans will get the opportunity to apply for 14 industry sectors in Japan under these initiatives but the applicants will have to face several examinations when applying and Japanese language proficiency is a mandatory qualification.
Minister of labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara who is nowin an official visit to Japan, met Mr. Morihiro Tada, CEO of PERSOL Global Workforce and discussed the issue of providing more employment opportunities to Sri Lankan workers
Mr. Morihiro Tada pointed out the importance of having language training for a job in Japan.
The minister also told the delegation that with the intervention of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau, 5,000 people are being given Japanese language training and 17,000 have taken the Japanese language proficiency exam held recently.
